Microscope history (was science/art)

Paul,
I only want to point out that microscopy started much earlier. Robert
Hooke made a compound microscope in 1595. Antony van Leeuwenhoek made
his discoveries starting around 1668. Van Leeuwenhoek actually coined
the term "cells" in describing the microscopic appearance of cork.
Interestingly, van Leeuwenhoek's single-lens microscopes were about
ten times better in magnifiying power than the compound microscopes of
the day. His lenses were of such excellent quality that it has been
only with great difficulty that reproductions of his lenses have been
reproduced in modern times.
For more information see:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html
Tim Morken, B.A., EMT(MSA), HTL(ASCP)
Infectious Disease Pathology
Centers for Disease Control
MS-G32
1600 Clifton Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30333
USA
email: tim9@cdc.gov
timcdc@hotmail.com
FAX: (404)639-3043
----Original Message Follows----
From: Paul Millikin <millikin@mtco.com>
To: histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: Histology: Science or Art??
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 17:25:16 -0700
--
Paul Millikin
Peoria, IL
millikin@mtco.com
Histology was born as a science, and is just barely past its 160th
birthday. Before that time, Science had only the most rudimentary
knowledge about the structure of living matter. Then in 1838, a
German
botanist, Jakob Matthias Schleiden, proposed that all plant tissue was
composed of cells.
The following year, a German physiologist and anatomist, Theodor
Schwann,
of Scwhann cell fame, proposed that all animal tissues were also
composed
of cells.
That Cell Theory of Life was a major "breakthrough" at the time,
causing
a scientific furore at least as exciting as the discovery of
penicillin in
modern times.
However, there were no tools ready-made fo studying these new
discoveries.
Microscopes were of poor quality and widely regarded as toys, so
microscopic
optics had to be invented, and some high caliber science went into the
process.
Similarly, every single tool used by each of us every day had to be
invented
by SOMEBODY, and some of the finest minds in all of science were
attracted to
that area. For example, the first microtome was a straight razor, and
the
earliest stain was carmine, which stained nuclei red and everything
else pink.
Nothing was known of how to fix tissue hard enough to permit cutting
thin'
sections, and all the embedding media had to be discovered.
Endless manhours went into finding stains better than carmine.
Names like Zenker, Heidenhain, Abbe, Helly, Harris, Delafield, and
dozens
more comprised scientists that served in the Histology Delivery Room.
The
list has since grown to include dozens, perhaps hundreds of the finest
minds
in all of science.
However, all of us who work in histology everyday recognize the art
involved.
On difficult days, some have even called it a black art.
Clearly both science and art integral parts of the process, and are
not
interchangeable. When a brand new procedure is called for, Science
rises to
the fore. When a "drop dead gorgeous" slide is called for, Art takes
the
lead.
Paul Millikiin
millikin@mtco.com
Peoria, IL, USA#026#
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